


Life and Love from a Different POV

by shadowcatisajerk



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: M/M, POV Phichit Chulanont, POV Victor Nikiforov, POV Yuri Plisetsky, Post-Season/Series 01, Run-On Sentences, Yuri plisetsky in Japan, Yuuri Katsuki is barely in this sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24251602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowcatisajerk/pseuds/shadowcatisajerk
Summary: We should always be the main characters in our own life stories, right?This is a short look at the next few years from three different POV's than the anime. How do Viktor, Yura and Phichit find life and love in the years following the series?
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. Viktor

**Author's Note:**

> OK, this literally came to me in a dream. This is kind of a stream of consciousness retelling of my dream that just poured out of me. It's also in some weird present tense format that I don't even know.

When Viktor tells Yuuri he wants to compete with him until he has 5 gold medals, he means it. He thinks to himself, "How hard can it be? After all, I've been skating since I could walk." The answer is "A lot harder than he expects." 

He has only a few weeks to prepare something for Russian nationals. It's not up to his usual standards, of course, he gave those programs away. He ends up with a mishmash of old programs, things he had discarded from the On Love programs and, frankly, winging it. He places third behind Yuri and Georgie, and if that isn't a wake up call, he doesn't know what is.

He feels as if maybe the judges were trying to punish him a bit for leaving so abruptly last year. But his score is just high enough to land him a spot at the Europeans, so he is happy enough, even if his pride is a bit wounded. 

Yuuri joins him after the Japanese nationals, clutching his gold medal and giving him a radiant smile. They spend the next two days wearing their medals and little else as they make up for their time apart, enthusiastically and on many different surfaces of their apartment. 

Day 3 begins early with Yuri Plisestky banging on their door and yelling for them to put some clothes on and slap some pain cream on Viktor's ass because they have to get back to practice before Yakov has a heart attack for real. Two hours later, a blushing Yuuri and a smug looking Viktor report for practice.

With more time to plan and without having to spend valuable practice time pining for his boyfriend, Viktor is able to improve his routines and cobble together a kind of theme. "Life and love" is his theme, of course, which he dedicates to his beautiful fiancé. He is able to win silver at Europeans, edging out Georgie and much closer to Yura this time. Yuuri is waiting for him in the kiss & cry since Four Continents isn't until the week after. Viktor doesn't quite embarrass them both by molesting his fiancé on live TV, but it's close. 

Worlds happens before he knows it and finally, he is competing with Yuuri directly. It's the reason he came back to skating. Yura is foaming at the mouth to beat them both and finally prove he's truly the best there is. But he had started growing after the Grand Prix, getting tall enough he had to have his costumes redone, and it's thrown off his center of gravity a bit. 

Yuuri is in his prime, finally nailing his quad flip 80% of the time. Any time his nerves start trying to bully him into submission, Viktor is there telling him how his fiance is the most beautiful, the most talented and he is the luckiest man alive. 

In the end, Yuuri beats them both easily. Yura flubs a jump in his short program he could do in his sleep only 3 months before. He recovers, but it rattles him and takes out some of the fire in his free. Viktor performs beautifully, but his cobbled together program just isn't up to Worlds' standards. He still places 3rd, behind Yura, and as he stands on the podium next to his future husband, he knows this is how he wants his career to end. 

That night, as they lay tangled together, their medals entwined on the nightstand, he tells Yuuri he will announce his retirement at their wedding. It was harder to come back than he thought and half a season training beside Yuuri made him realize that there was more to life than skating. He tells Yuuri he wants to be able to pick up their future children, not have them pushing him in a wheelchair. There are tears from Yuuri, of course, but Viktor feels like his heart could burst with happiness and he tells his fiancé this. Viktor was drifting at sea and he finally landed back home in Yuuri's arms. 

They get married as soon as they move back to Japan. Viktor buys Ice Castle and refurbishes it into a world class gym for his husband. He is so happy to finally have something to spend his endorsement money on besides clothes and impractical cars. He's planning for their future together, he tells Yuuri when he hyperventilates at hearing the final cost. Viktor adds a second rink, a world class workout gym and a ballet studio just for Yuuri and Minako. 

He doesn't really set out to become a coach to anyone but Yuuri, but then Minami shows up, begging. Viktor takes him on, as well as another young female skater from the next town over. She always dreamed of skating professionally, but she helps her single mother care for her four younger siblings and couldn't afford to leave to train in Tokyo or overseas. Viktor can't help but see what could have happened to his husband when he sees her situation. So now Viktor is Coach Viktor, holding on to skate guards and warm up jackets, hugging in the kiss and cry, and finally feeling like he is putting good back into the world. 


	2. Yuri

Yuri has a disastrous 2nd season. After winning gold at his first Grand Prix and silver at worlds behind Yuuri but above Viktor, he is feeling pretty good. His growth spurt hurt him, but he just knows he can power through it. No one wants it more than he does, after all. Plus, the next year is the Olympics and he's going to bring home gold and rub it in Viktor's face. 

But the next thing he knows, Viktor's retired and gone, happy now for his husband to bring home gold. Suddenly, he's all alone, Viktor and Yuuri no longer a train ride away, Yuuri isn't there to play video games with, he can't drag Viktor out shopping and leave him to pay all the bills.

The pressure is all on Yuri now, even Georgie has left to become a personal coach to some rich young up and comer. Then he hears Mila making noises about getting married after this season and moving to Italy. 

He does OK at first, winning silver and gold at the qualifiers, but he's almost 17 now and having a major growth spurt. He's grown 5 inches between the end of last season & his second Grand Prix, where he gets silver behind Yuuri. Then he grows another 2 inches after nationals are done. 

As they ramp up to the Olympics in Pyeongchang, the pressure starts to get to him. With Viktor gone, Russia sees him as their only hope for Olympic gold. Everyone wants to interview him and ask about his plan to beat that evil interloper who stole Viktor from them. 

Yuri doesn't know what to say to that. Yuuri and he are friends now. After all, they trained together for over a year. He just can't think of Yuuri as the enemy anymore. He makes noises about how he will eat all competitors and hopes they leave him alone. 

So when the Olympics finally arrive, he chokes. The growth spurt means his balance is off, he can no longer bend his body like a reed, everyone is depending on him to win for Mother Russia. Yakov only knows how to motivate by yelling and Lilia is as cold as ever. The pressure is intense. 

He barely makes it through the qualifiers for the individual competition, and then only because Yuuri sees how much the pressure is getting to him and gets Viktor to pull him aside for a calming pep talk, Yuuri physically blocking a fuming Yakov from yelling anymore about what he flubbed in warm ups. He makes it through his free skate, but he's wooden and emotionless. After his fall in the short program, his combined scores mean that he doesn't even have a chance at a medal in individuals. All the press are saying things like "one hit wonder" and "national disgrace".

He collapses at the Olympic village and Otabek finds him crying on the floor of his dorm. He calls Yuuri, who grabs Viktor and they run. This is Yuuri's one shot at Olympic gold, he'll be too old to seriously compete by the next one, and he's due to skate later that day, but they drop everything to support their friend. 

Yuuri does win gold that night, with his husband by his side and Yuri actually cheering for him in the stands. Yuri gets to talk to his grandpa that night, where he tells Yuri how proud he is of him for everything. Yuri moves into Viktor and Yuuri's suite at a local hotel, far away from Yakov's yelling and actually starts to enjoy some of the Olympics. By the time the team competition comes around, he's back to his former glory, almost single-handedly pulling his team of unknowns up to the team bronze medal. 

He doesn't even fly back to Russia with Yakov, just packs up his skates and clothes and goes home with Yuuri and Viktor. 

He is picking up Japanese far more quickly than Viktor did, can even recognize enough Kanji to ride the train by the time the off-season is coming to a close. He didn't sign up for any ice shows this year, he just wants to act like a kid for once before he turns 18. He heads back a month before he's due to start practice with Yakov again, stopping first to spend a week with Otabek in Almaty and 3 weeks in Moscow with his grandpa.

But once he gets back to training with Yakov in St. Petersburg, he knows something isn't right. Most of his friends are gone. At 17 and three quarters, he's one of the oldest skaters. Even Mila is gone, happily touring with her new wife. Yakov's coaching style has gotten even more gruff after Viktor left the second time and Yuri senses that he may be retiring soon too. In fact, he thinks that maybe Yakov might only be staying for Yuri. 

They sit and have a long talk. Yuri tries to use the very rudimentary conversation skills that Viktor has been trying to teach him in these last few months. They make a mutual decision to part ways. Yakov wants to move back to his home town and retire. He had been ready to quit as soon as Viktor left but had stayed for Yura. 

This leaves Yuri at loose ends. The season is starting and he has no coach. He could stay in St. Petersburg or go to Moscow. There are any number of coaches who would take him on, even as a "washed-up" 18 year old. But Yuri knows in his heart there is only one place for him. 

He shows up without notice on the doorstep of the Yu-topia onsen and Mama Katsuki takes one look at him and bundles him off to Yuri's old room for a nap. Viktor and Yuuri have bought a house close to the refurbished Ice Castle with room for Macachin and their new puppy to run, but they are there when Yuri wakes up, loudly demanding Katsudon. No one is sure if he means the meal or Yuuri, not even Yuri himself, but he gets both and a soak in the onsen and by the next day he feels back to his old self, the one before the Olympics, except maybe a little more calm and a tiny bit wiser. 

He settles in practicing next to Yuuri again and it's the closest he feels to home when he's not in Moscow with grandpa. That season is an all out brawl between the two Yuri's. Every competition that they aren't in together, they win gold. If they are up against each other, it's always down to a few tenths of a point who will come out on top. 

Even Minami starts placing in the top 5 and suddenly Viktor is famous as the coach who brings skaters back from the dead. New students start begging to join, but Viktor isn't sure if he's ready to head a stable of hopefuls. They hire another coach, a former women's singles skater who moves down from Tokyo with her husband and 2 kids. She brings with her a pairs couple and a young female skater from Vietnam. 

Suddenly Ice Castle is an international hub for figure skating, so it's not much of a surprise when Otabek shows up to visit during the off season and just never leaves. Yu-topia onsen has become less of a hotel and more of a skaters' rooming house and Mama Hiroko loves taking care of all her new children.


	3. Phichit

Phichit is getting tired of Detroit. He flies back to Thailand as much as possible, but Celestino has put down roots in Michigan and he can't up and leave for one skater. But America is getting scary for brown people, Michigan especially. He lives in a kind of bubble at his college and practice rink, but when he and his friends venture out to clubs or malls, he's starting to feel the tension. He doesn't really want to be there when it snaps.

Japan isn't Thailand, but it's closer to home, a few hours flight instead of most of a day, and while southern Japan isn't home, the humid summers, spicy food and people are closer than he's felt to home in years. During his visits, he starts to dread going back to Detroit. 

But it's not any easy decision. Celestino is the one who got him to where he is today. He owes him everything. But he can't ignore his feelings anymore. He calls Viktor and begs. It's only a matter of minutes before he has a new coach. He swears Viktor to secrecy, he can't wait to publish the video of him surprising Yuuri on Instagram. 

The conversation with Celestino is painful. He's Italian and a former ice skater, so the drama is ingrained. There is shouting, crying, thrown chairs and finally hugs and more tears. Before he knows it, everything he has accumulated in 5 years in Detroit is packed into boxes and he's on his way to Japan. 

Minami picks him up at the Fukuoka Airport and Phichit is shocked at how mature he is now at 18 with a few seasons under his belt. He gets Yukko to film the surprise reunion on his phone, he trusts her to make sure it's up to the standards of his brand. Yuuri is frozen in shock, then there is a stammering, "What are you doing here, the season has started?" Phichit tells him he's here to start practicing with his new coach and then the tears start and don't stop for 100 hours, at least according to Yura who looks on with disgust and demands they clear the ice, some people are trying to practice here, jeez. 

Months go by and practice is going well. But Phichit is feeling out of his depth, just like he did when he first showed up in Detroit. At least then, he had Yuuri, who was in the same boat as he was. They fumbled through their lives with their high school English and searched out green tea KitKats at Asian grocery stores together. 

But now, Yuuri is in his element, a national hero, husband at his side, a homeowner and talking about adopting a baby. Yura could be his new Yuuri, except he's been in Japan almost as long as Phichit was in Detroit. He speaks conversational Japanese, can even read Kanji enough to get by on his own. Phichit may finally be back in Asia, but he's realizing that Japan is still a world away from Thailand. 

He's crying in his room at the onsen, homesick and missing his siblings and decent Khao Na Bpet when Otabek finds him. He knows what's wrong instantly, he went through it too, finally back in Asia from Vancouver, but still everything is wrong, no one to do prayers with him, pork in everything he is served. 

He calls Yuri and they decide it's time for a road trip, no coaches invited. That includes Yuuri now because even though he's still competing, he coaches everyone almost as much as Viktor does. 

They hop a train and club their way north. They hit the shrines, they go to all the tourist places. Yuri makes Phichit order at every meal, coaching him when the Japanese words escape him. They spend 3 days in Tokyo shopping for every tiger print they can find and buy everyone silly t-shirts with bad English slogans printed on them. They start to hike up Mount Fuji, but decide that's more exercise than they want to do on vacation and end up back in the hot springs at an onsen. 

They all roomed together most of the trip, but the last few days, Yuri & Otabek want their own room and they retire early, leaving Phichit on his own in a touristy part of Northern Japan. Phichit isn't even sure what the name of the town is, his fluency with Kanji still non-existent. But he has a ride-share app on his phone and he knows how to say disco in Japanese, so he finds himself in a club having the time of his life. Close to midnight, he meets another tourist. He's Chinese, speaks even less Japanese than Phichit, but has some English and they muddle through. Dancing together leads to late night yakitori at a food stall and then back to Phichit's room at the onsen. They spend most of the next day before Bai has to fly home in bed. 

Yuri wakes him up at dawn the next day pounding on his door and throws his phone at him. Phichit had turned his off the day before and never turned it back on, a first for him. Yuuri is on the other line, worried out of his mind when Phichit went a full day without posting to his Instagram and then didn't answer his texts. Viktor is on speaker and tells them that playtime is over. He is going to make them all regret their two weeks playing hooky. 

But Phichit can't regret any of it. He feels more centered than he has in months, he has two new brothers and he's ready to bring home gold. Life is good, and hopefully love will follow, just like it did for his friends.


End file.
